In Search of Perfect People Teamwork and Team Players in the Scottish Spirits Industry

Abstract

Much of the mainstream and critical literatures stress the potential of teamwork for normative integration through socialization and peer pressure. This article utilizes case studies in the large bottling halls of spirits producers in Scotland to explore the characteristics of and limits to such integration. A multi-dimensional model of team-work and an examination of both practices and attitudes enables the research to identify the variety of managerial objectives and out-comes across and within the plants. Though the extent of integration varies between the teams, the overall results lead to scepticism about whether team members can be considered as socially engineered individuals who have internalized company normative demands. These findings, it is argued, are compatible with the majority of comparable case study research.